Reports indicate that negotiating tariffs with foreign governments is not a priority for President Donald Trump regarding mutual tariffs imposed on trade countries worldwide.
On the 5th (local time), the Financial Times (FT) reported this, citing anonymous U.S. officials. It states that even though President Trump had a phone call with the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam on the 4th, two days after announcing mutual tariffs, U.S. officials believe that negotiating with foreign governments is not a priority for President Trump.
President Trump stated in a post on social media that General Secretary Rum said, 'If we can reach an agreement with the United States, we want to reduce tariffs on Vietnam to '0' and noted that they had a productive currency.
However, White House officials said that just because President Trump spoke with foreign leaders, one should not expect this to necessarily lead to an agreement to lower tariffs. They added that the White House is currently focused on implementing tariffs as stipulated.
A White House official told FT, 'President Trump is always willing to take calls from foreign leaders and discuss possible transactions, but that is not negotiation.'